REJECT PARKLAND DE-ANNEXATION

Broward County's state legislators should turn down a request by several Parkland property owners that the Florida Legislature pull almost 3,500 acres out of the city.

The proposal, scheduled to be considered by the county's legislative delegation in February, deserves a forceful "No!" and admonishments to both the disaffected landholders and city officials to play by the rules and to get their houses in order.

Such a deannexation by the Legislature would set a dangerous precedent, sending out a signal that it's OK for developers to shop around for friendly governments.

The deannexation drive began with Hamilton Forman, a Broward County businessman who wields substantial political clout. Forman offered to give the city eight acres of land in exchange for an increase in density on 12 acres owned by a charitable foundation controlled by the Forman family.

After Parkland Mayor Sal Pagliara said Forman would have to go through the normal procedure for amending the city's land use plan to win any density increase, Forman joined forces with Coral Ridge Properties Inc., owner of 2,500 acres in the western half of the city, and with Mecca Farms, owner of hundreds of acres to the east, to request the deannexation.

Coral Ridge Properties President Werner Buntemeyer says his company has no dispute over land use, but is frustrated with the slowness with which Parkland officials process development permits. The process, he says, consumes far too much time and money and rarely follows set rules.

It is unclear why Mecca Farms officials wish to deannex. Mecca officials asked last year that they be annexed to Parkland, a request that was supported by the local delegation and approved by the Legislature. Broward lawmakers should be exasperated that they are being asked to undo what they did only one year ago.

Like most small towns facing a new period of development, Parkland is unlikely to please developers with either its expertise or efficiency in handling permit requests. It is a phase that all small cities go through before they build up a professional staff and transfer the more mundane tasks of government from elected officials to city staff.

Unfortunately, it is an uncomfortable phase for all concerned -- elected officials who feel buried and harassed by developer's demands and developers who feel stymied in their efforts to begin projects and sustain their profitability.

Parkland's apparent flaw, however, is not enough justification for cutting the size of the city in half.

The message legislative delegation members should give to Parkland city officials and developers is this: The city has an obligation and a legal mandate to follow a written set of development rules and to apply those rules equally to all. The city should not deviate from these rules and developers should not expect special treatment.